Increasingly, orthodontic practitioners are addressing malocclusion and other undesired conditions by initiating orthopedic treatment techniques during patient adolescence or even prior thereto so as to benefit from growth potentials. Such techniques include the utilization of unitary, custom-made appliances which, for example, induce maxillary/mandibular alignment and selectively retard/augment maxillary/mandibular growth.
One such type of appliance is based on the disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 4,619,609. Briefly, the '609 patent describes an appliance having two maxillary bite blocks posteriorly positioned on each side of the mouth and an appliance having two mandibular bite blocks positioned in opposing relation to the maxillary bite blocks. The upper and lower bite blocks are provided with complimentary inclined surfaces wherein, upon mouth closure, a camming effect between the inclined surfaces is achieved so as to promote, for example, forward projection of the mandible or maxilla. As commercialized, each appliance comprises a unitary palatal molding for removable usage. More specifically, and as illustrated in FIG. 1, the unitary maxillary and mandibular appliances each include the two corresponding bite blocks molded into an interconnecting structure which extends therebetween, most typically with additional integrally-molded, clasp-like extensions for removable retention on a patient's teeth. In this regard, it should be appreciated that the manufacture of such unitary maxillary and mandibular appliances has necessarily required practitioners to obtain impressions from which study models can be produced on a patient-specific basis. Such impressions or study models are then provided to third-party orthodontic/dental laboratory production facilities having the necessary equipment, expertise, etc., to mold the unitary, customized products.